John Mayall has sadly passed, aged 90, peacefully at home with friends/family around him. When the tragic news first reached us at Blues Matters a few hours following his death, it came with a request to keep it under wraps till the family themselves were ready to post it publicly.
John was always known as the ‘Godfather of British Blues’, a moniker he shrugged aside and wore lightly despite his immense importance to the music globally. We had the good fortune to both know and admire the guy and until he retired from the road a few short years ago, often spoke about his remarkable career and the countless bands and musicians he inspired and nurtured as a blues pioneering recording artist for an astonishing six decades.
Everyone knows the greats who worked alongside John in the various incarnations of the Bluesbreakers: The legendary Peter Green; Eric Clapton – John described as ‘the right guy, with an instinctive feel for the music’ ; Mick Taylor, who went on to join the Stones; Mick Fleetwood (short-lived); John McVie (Fleetwood Mac); Walter Trout – John described as a ‘great, true friend’; Buddy Whittington; Coco Montoya. The list seems almost endless, all blues artists of renown and fame – Dick Heckstall-Smith; Harvey Mandel; Mark Almond; Hughie Flint…
For over forty years, John lived in California, joking with me that ‘The weather suits me more than Manchester!’, when last we spoke. Always ready to chat and discuss his legacy, he had a self-deprecating manner that truly belied his significance as a multi-instrumentalist – Harmonica, Guitar and Keys, plus vocals – with a vast and deep understanding of the music and its history, some gleaned from listening to his late father – a bar-room guitarist in northern England during his childhood – and the array of US roots music the family listened to at home, mostly jazz and blues recordings from the likes of Eddie Lang and Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and others.
After a spell at Art School in Manchester where he had his first blues band, he ventured south to London, playing the Flamingo, Marquee and all clubs of note in the world of blues music, taking his chance to create bands that reflected his own passions, a love that remained rooted in his soul to the very end. So many modern musicians owe their own careers to his forthright presence that it’s hard to overestimate his importance in global music terms.
Asked if he had a personal favourite album of his, John replied that he loved them all. They were each a snapshot, an instant memory of a time, a place and a band, forming his own ‘personal juke box!’
Right to the end, he remained a pioneer with an eye and an ear for perfection and quality, reflected in his final release The Sun is Shining Down, produced by Eric Corne. In 2024, way overdue in many eyes, John finally received the accolade of induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the appropriate ‘musical influence’ category, which he added to his OBE and numerous Grammy nominations.
When we last spoke, I phoned John in November on his 90th birthday at home in LA. We had a laugh and I closed by saying I’d call again in ten years time, to which he quipped with pleasure, ‘Yea, you make sure you do that!’
Sadly, that’s not now going to be possible.
IAIN PATIENCE
